I also believe that her father-in-law James Duckett is innocent. You can read about this case at my other blog: http://www.anotherduckettbucket.blogspot.com/
While Melinda is no longer alive to defend herself, and James is sitting on death row since 1988, the evidence presented in both cases is non conclusive and wrought with lies.
About me, I am a mother of three, grandmother of eleven, and great-grandmother of three. While James Duckett (whom I had not heard of until 6 years ago) was going to prison in 1988, I was going overseas as a missionary to live on a dairy farm in Holland. I travelled to Romania, Yugoslavia, Germany, Austria, and Hungary, during the time that the Berlin Wall was still up in Germany and Romania was under Nicolae Ceauşescu. I smuggled money into the countries to help the poor Christian churches and I smuggled letters out to loved ones back to the "free world", including a marriage proposal.
When my children were in elementary school in the Miami area, I fought against the "open school system" and successfully outed the new principal of the school. The school was in chaos, the teachers were begging the parents to help, and my own son walked home from the third grade through miles of treacherous traffic and the school did not even know he was missing; they thought it was unnecessary to take attendance.
When I am confronted with an injustice, it stirs my very being: the very reason of how I became involved with the Melinda Duckett case. My daughter's family lived in Leesburg, Florida in 2006. On the day that the Amber Alert came out for Trenton Duckett she called me and we prayed for his safe return. As a mother of a 3 year old at the time, she was very concerned because she felt that no one would be looking for him because Hurricane Ernesto was on its way to the area. I had just left a job and started looking on the internet about the case. I came across a Tampa forum called Sticks of Fire and read Melinda's post. I then read all the hateful things directed toward her. One in particular was from a "Memorie" which stated that Melinda wasn't worthy to be a mother of a cockroach and should rot in hell. I sometimes get comments on this forum of the same nature, (which of course I will never post). All the hate being spewed toward this young mother and NO evidence! And the father, Josh, was the shining hero. When I saw that no family member or friend was speaking up for Melinda, and when I had a "defending Melinda" thread on Websleuths which was shut down by a handful of people led by Laurie Konnerth, the lone signatory of the Trenton Duckett Family Trust Fund, I contacted Melinda's attorney Kimberly Schulte and sent her the contents of my defending Melinda threads. She in turn put me in touch with Melinda's grandparents. We have been friends ever since and hope to solve this case together and bring justice for Melinda.
I was confronted by an injustice. And so the fight began and is still ongoing. I recently read somewhere that we have three choices in life. Give it up, give up, or give it all you got. I'm going to give it all I got!
This is the cover of the book that will be coming out this year.
14 comments:
I believe YOUR version of this story.....
I have not read your book but i think i will. I truely believe melinda was innocent, but i don't believe james is. I lived with trentons grandmother for many years and am still married to her. You can not live with someone and not learn something about their past.
Anonymous/Kevin
Would you email me at maytruthprevail2007@gmail.com? I would like to hear what you learned about Carla's past. I know you married Carla when Josh turned 18 but how long did you know her before that? Also, Carla signed her mortgage note for her new flowershop in Bushnell but there is NO reference to her marriage status...seems she didn't write "a married woman" nor "a single woman" but you have some legal rights there that you might want to check into and her live-in boyfriend Jason Fort wears a wedding ring as does she. Hope to hear from you, we live in the same neighborhood.
I am new to this case and came across this blog, I have to say the information you have compiled is quite compelling and has certainly forced me to rethink what I had heard about this case up until now, which I admit was not much except that Melinda was most likely guilty. As far as James' guilt, I am not convinced he is innocent but I definitely feel the public should be made aware of the evidence you have that shows Melinda most likely is innocent. Thank you for giving this case all you have and I certainly would like to read your book.
I new to the case but I do remember it vaguely I remember thinking that poor woman and I felt bad for her that the press was just ripping her apart. After reading this I think i feel the same way you do about it angry at the press but more over disappointed at law enforcement investigation team that investigated the crime yes I said, crime not suicide. Why would a woman or person grab two shells if they were going to kill themselves heres the answer they don't. Why would she have gone to the closet when she could have done the deed anywhere in that room? I was looking at the pictures of the drawing of the seen it looked like the wound was in the neck Im no expert but if i was going to kill myself the shot would be to the head not the neck. I really have more questions. Why was the magazine jammed in backwards how did she even fire a shot if the magazine was in backwards? Im sorry maybe I miss read or Im letting my emotions take over but what a waste. I hope whoever is responsible for this is being tormented by their inner demons.
The more I read your post and blogs The more I pray for you. I think you have been led to the truth. You are a brave and compassionate woman.
I have just come across your site.
I'm certainly going to take a closer look.
Can I say that there needs to be a simple summary that someone can look at quickly to understand the case, and organise material.
I recommend wikispaces for this.
A site I have made there is
http://jodi-arias.wikispaces.com/
( which led me to your site, via Nancy Grace )
I started a wiki on this at
http://melinda-duckett.wikispaces.com
I think that Melinda lived a difficult life. Being a single mother and having a mother in law worthy of a Jerry springer episode, it couldn't be hard to imagine the already difficult job of working two places, going to community college and raising a baby, then add the games your ex and his mother play to resin custody. The law has a very steep and high definition of what makes you a bad parent. It's like a short list of very severe charges, simply being a jerk or making choices others frown upon isn't usually enough. That would explain the stunts they pulled. And it's textbook everywhere, not just with them, not just with one gender...I've seen it be the case with anybody. But the more you try to defend yourself, the more it can work against you. Your focus is to make it right, not use the right words or appear the right way as you do it. I do suspect however that she was making side money (understandably) through videos to a website. The two men she had over that were friends as well as her specific whereabouts that day were vague and likely not something the public would accept or understand. Shes not going to say " hey i made a movie this afternoon while my son slept" or i do this with consenting adults to make needed mney on e side. They judge her now and rip apart basic info, what would they do with something like that?
She wasn't a bad mother, but she probably made some choices that at the time seemed necessary for someone her age and in her situation. And the world is crapping away on her for it. She was afraid to be completely open on interviews, polygraphs and statements not because she had something to hide with the disappearance of her son, but because once you consent to something like that, you cannot filter topics. You are either consenting to answering every and any question, or none at all. She wanted to answer questions about her son, but not be judged for her personal life.
Vanished with B.H. Was on in The Netherlands yesterday so i watched..after watching i felt so sorry for the dad. But i always want to know more so i started searching online and found your blog. I have been reading for hours and hours and it scared me.. My opinion is totally changed and i cannot believe a mother like B.H. Who lost her daughter. Because of a creepy Dutch guy sided with the enemy. If all this evidence is out in the open why do they still blame the mother.
Hi Sharon, thanks for reading. I lived in Hoornaar in August 1988 through Feb 1989. I stayed with a beautiful Christian family whose last name is Slob. They owned a dairy farm and I treasure that time I spent with Janneka and Goveret. Janneka and I share the same birthday I love the Dutch people and they welcomed me with open arms. Don't be too hard on Beth Holloway. Like the majority of the public the media is our source of information but unfortunately, the media has so many top stories that they have to write with a McDonald's attitude - one minute service. They don't have time to really investigate anymore because the next story is just around the corner. But this isn;t just a story. It is one life lost and another life of a child who is missing - whereabouts unknown. So where is the father looking? How is he spending his days? Hold a vigil? For what purpose? I suppose to raise more money to supplement his income. The money is NOT in the bank. It is all spent. The only money IN the bank is money from Nancy Grace $200,000 in an account held by Melinda's Aunt Kathy. Josh will never get his hands on that money, Though you can bet he has tried. And the "creepy Dutch Guy" and Josh Duckett have a lot in common...they are great liars. You know, I am just a nobody. And as a nobody how was I able to uncover a lot of misconceptions ? The media, law enforcement, etc keep stating that Melinda was baker acted. It was concockted to set her up to get custody of Trenton. They keep stating that she sent the threatening email to herself when there was NO RESIDUE on her hard druve. Only her IP address. She was NOT the parent who did NOT have custody, she had sole custody and a legal contract with Josh that he would not try to get custody from her signed one year before. Josh lied about everything, yet Melinda is called the liar. So here I am putting out things a nobody has discovered and pointing my finger of shame at law enforcement. If they want to blame a woman in this case go search Carla Massero's property. It's about time they did their damn job right.
I stumbled onto your informative, truthful site by accident. I was looking on trucrime at child abduction when Trenton's name came up. Intrigued I googled him and came to your site. Liz, keep up the amazing work. I'm sure Melinda would be proud to have a lady like you in her corner. I have spent days reading everything that has been posted on this site and WOW...How badly was Melinda set up?! What's worse is the police and all relevant authorities actually fell for it.
I must admit, after reading a little about this story on the internet, I had my doubts about Melinda. But after reading your blog my only doubts are about Josh, Carla, Jason infact the whole TT!!!
In regards to the interrogation interview, well I say interview, it was more like a lynching! Her face fit and they would accept NO other explanation as to what may have happened to Trenton (I mean I thought the whole focus of this was to find him/find out what happened to him). From listening to them it sounds as if they are in on it? Can a whole police force be corrupt? I accept maybe one or two of them, especially if Carla is giving extra favours for favours. After watching that disgusting, accusing interview, Melinda has gone even higher in my estimation as she lasted a hell of a lot longer than I would have done and managed to stay so composed when being accused of all sorts with NO evidence.
I live in England and just wanted to let you know that your blog is reaching far and wide. I also wanted to commend you on the fantastic fight you have taken on on behalf of Melinda, Trenton, Billy & Nancy.
Are you out there Liz?This is John Fiveash.Sorry we have been out of touch for so long.I have been struggling very hard with this economy the way it is and also working at that dealership you saw me at that was ripping off of my money.Anyway,I have had Melinda and Trenton on my mind and heart almost all the time.Wanted to catch up and stay in touch with you.I can't remember if I told you LPD and the FBI interviewed me a third time.They pissed me off because they were trying to prove me to be a liar.The detective with LPD said I called FDLE first when I saw the Amber alert on Trenton.
John F. again.I am continueing from my last comment.I told the detective that I called Leesburg police first and the reason why I called FDLE is because it was 2-3 days went by without a return call from them.My phone records proved it.I don't remember anything else that could be of importance even though I have racked my brains all these years.
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